Genshin Impact update 1.5, Beneath the Light of Jadeite, was unveiled today, and it's packing two new characters, another weekly boss fight, a village sim that could pass for a distant cousin to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and honest-to-god Prop Hunt. Everything kicks off Wednesday, April 28.
The English reveal stream for update 1.5 has yet to air at the time of writing, but plenty of details have been shared via the teaser trailer above, MiHoYo's Japanese and Chinese social feeds, as well as developer updates on both the PlayStation Blog and the game's forums. There's a lot to work through, and we'll update this story once the English reveal is live, so buckle up.
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Let's start with the stars of every major update: new characters. First up, Eula is a five-star claymore user of the cryo element. "Her Elemental Skill, Icetide Vortex, increases her resistance to interruption and her defense while dealing Cryo damage," MiHoYo technical director Zhenzhong Yi explains on the PlayStation Blog. "Her Elemental Burst deals AoE Cryo damage to nearby enemies and creates a Lightfall Sword that follows her around for a certain duration, increasing her resistance to interruption. By dealing damage, Eula charges the Lightfall Sword until it explodes at the end of its duration, dealing AoE Physical damage."
Yanfei, meanwhile, is a four-star catalyst user of the pyro element. Her abilities generate Scarlet Seals that increase the damage and range of her charged attacks, Yi says, while also reducing her stamina cost. Like Ganyu, Yanfei is half-adepti, and her abilities sound a bit like Klee's on paper. It's good to see another four-star character so soon after Rosaria, and it's cool to see Yanfei styled after some of the strongest five-stars.
According to Chinese translations collected by Genshin Twitter sleuth Zeniet, Eula will be available through the second banner in update 1.5. The first banner will seemingly be a rerun of Zhongli, a once-controversial character who was recently buffed to high heaven. Yanfei will apparently be available on Zhongli's rerun, similar to how Rosaria was added to Tartaglia's recent rerun. Eula and Zhongli will both receive character stories, too, so we'll really get to know them this patch.
We'll likely need items from the new boss, Azhdaha the Lord of Vishaps, to strengthen Eula and Yanfei. He looks like a multi-element behemoth with ties to Zhongli and the new story quest in update 1.5, so expect an amped-up version of the Primo Geovishap world boss. Speaking of which, a Cryo Hypostasis is on the way to Dragonspine, and it will drop new materials needed for Eula. This boss shares some moves with the other Hypostasis but it's got some tricks of its own, including the sheer cold mechanic. A third boss-grade enemy, the Violet Lightning Abyss Vector, is also coming and will seemingly be in the next Spiral Abyss enemy rotation.
Azhdaha will be Genshin Impact's fourth weekly boss, which means a hefty chunk of the game's time-gated Original Resin is now devoted to one-off bosses. Fortunately, MiHoYo says that the Resin cost of weekly bosses will be adjusted in update 1.5. In a press release, the studio clarified that your first three weekly boss kills will only cost 30 Resin instead of 60, which will save 90 Resin a week. As an added bonus, co-op play will grant double companionship XP from 1.5 onward, so you might want to run weekly bosses with a friend too.
Speaking of Resin bonuses: a new event called Overflowing Mastery will offer double rewards on talent book domains. Much like the previous double Leyline event, it looks like your first three domain drops each day will be doubled for a limited time. That ought to help level Eula and Yanfei's abilities, that's for sure.
With Zhongli and Eula as the headlining five-stars, it's only natural for update 1.5 to introduce new artifact sets that were clearly tailor-made for these two. Here are the new sets and bonuses, straight from the English teaser.
With Tenacity of the Millelith, Zhongli's pulsating pillars will not only provide constant AoE damage and energy, but also buff your entire team's attack and make the jade shield he provides even stronger. Similarly, with Eula positioned as a split cryo/physical damage carry, Pale Flame will likely be her best-in-slot gear. These two sets could be spicy on other characters as well, with Hu Tao benefiting from the Millelith two-piece effect and the Pale Flame two-piece effect stacking with the identical Bloodstained Chivalry two-piece.
In addition to characters, bosses, and gear, Genshin Impact update 1.5 will add some out-of-left-field features and game modes. The most promising has got to be the Serenitea Pot, a pocket-sized realm – an island, you might call it – that you can customize through a remarkably detailed building sim. This feature will launch with three settings based on Mondstadt and Liyue locales, each with dozens of building and furniture options available, and more to come in future updates.
You can place buildings, landforms, indoor and outdoor furniture, and even different pet dogs. Blueprints for new Serenitea objects can be found through exploration, and as you build and place more stuff on your island, you'll generate more and more Trust. You can spend Trust at a new vendor, the Teapot Traveling Salesman, for rare items and resources to take back to your island. Once you're happy with your teapot, you can invite your friends over for a tour in co-op.
MiHoYo has been talking about a player housing system coming to Genshin Impact for well over a year, so while the Serenitea Pot looks lovely, it's not a total surprise. The new Windtrace mode, however, is definitely surprising. It's Genshin Impact's take on Prop Hunt, a popular party mode seen in the likes of Garry's Mod, Call of Duty, and Fortnite. Windtrace seems to follow the same rules: one seeker counts down while the other players disguise themselves as various objects, and then the seeker tries to hunt them down.
To round out the reveal, a smattering of combat events like Energy Amplifier Initiation, Battlefront: Misty Dungeon, and Mimi Tomo showed off some cool arenas and challenges. The Energy Amplifier Initiation event will give everyone a chance to claim Diona as a free character, and as it happens, update 1.5 will also introduce the second batch of dating sim-esque character hangouts, starting with Diona and an extension of Noelle's hangout.
For a cherry on top, MiHoYo released some teaser images from Inazuma, the next major region. You can check those out below.
On the reveal stream, these images were presented by yet another new character – a mysterious pink-haired woman who could well be the electro archon. The violet scenery and Japanese architecture looks great, and the fact that MiHoYo is comfortable showing this region at all is plenty exciting. Dragonspine added a chunk to the map and the Chasm locale remains to be filled, but Genshin Impact is still limited to its two launch regions: Mondstadt and Liyue. Inazuma could effectively increase the world's size by 50%, so whenever it arrives, it'll be huge. With the latest story quest casually name-dropping Inazuma and MiHoYo sharing official teasers, it could arrive as soon as update 1.6.
It won't arrive in update 1.5, but MiHoYo says it's preparing Genshin Impact 2FA as an added security measure.
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